The Lunatic Gospel Genesis 1-2

18072009

The Creation of Adam, fresco by Michelangelo

“In the beginning, God…”

Those four words are completely beyond my comprehension. They may sound simple enough, but in reality, they represent the first of many efforts to reduce God to human words. We know nothing of this “beginning” in which God existed, because everything we know, including time itself, is a part of God’s own creation.

These two stories set up a certain relationship between God and humanity. The two accounts differ in their details (to the point of contradiction, even!), but I sense this deep yearning of both authors to understand our own origins. And if we don’t understand our position before God, then nothing else will ever make sense. These chapters are thus a fitting way to begin this book, this relationship, and this journey of discovery.

Here’s what these chapters tell us:
He is the Creator, we are creation. He is the original image, of which we are merely the likeness. He has given us life and breath, but also some commandments and responsibilities. And this is good; these parameters help us to make sense of the world and provide us with our literal, God-given purpose. We have a duty both to rule over and tend to the rest of creation.

He wants us to be happy. He intends for us to be in fellowship — for it is through this fellowship that we see other images of God. And most of all — we are blessed! We have been blessed since the beginning of creation. With his voice God blessed the first two people and sent them out into the world that he had made for them.

And we are still here, out in the world that he has made for us. And we are blessed.